A Light Look at Mushrooms…

‘Tis the season for mushrooms, from the sublime to the…er…odd. The fantastical photo above was taken by Christina Lombardi. She had to work to get that magical glow. “I took two photos,” she explained. “One with a flashlight to illuminate the mushroom and one without the flashlight. I then blended the two photos together in photoshop to achieve the “Mushroom Lamp” effect.”

The two fungi below are less luminous and more…er…oddly shaped. The photographer, John Sheridan, said that the mushroom on the left is Bear’s Comb or Bear’s Brain. Others identify it as a Bear’s Head Tooth Mushroom. On the right is a Prince Mushroom. “Both delicious,” said the photographer. (Please don’t eat wild mushrooms unless you know what you are doing.) He suggests that despite the beer shown in the photo that you not consume alcohol and wild mushrooms at the same time. Other experts agree with him.

Do you hunt mushrooms with your camera or otherwise? Please share your favorite photo or story in the comment section.

Nancy: Have you ever been to Denmark?
Fielding Mellish: I’ve been, yes… to the Vatican.
Nancy: The Vatican? The Vatican is in Rome.
Fielding Mellish: Well, they were doing so well in Rome that they opened one in Denmark.

Nice photo – it is the season! I was fortunate to be given a sack of chanterelles picked by a knowledgeable hunter & didn’t have a clue what to do but googled & OMG! Soooo good, no wonder people rave about them. Delicious & easy to incorporate into a delicious pasta.

What you do is make pizza dough
Cut chanterelles into small pieces
Roll out the Dough into preferred pizza size
Cover with chanterelles
Then use brie cheese as your cheese
It will change everything you have ever thought about mushrooms

ALL OF YOU SHOULD ATTEND THE MUSHROOM FAIR. Sunday Nov.20th. Redwood Acres 11a.m. 4.p.m.
NONE of you should eat ANY mushroom unless you are damn sure, what it is. Do not take this warning lightly!!
yer first mistake, might be yer last!!!!!

Highly recommend David Arora’s books:
Mushrooms Demystified and All that the Rain Promises and More
which is the handy small pocket guide to go along with the bible, M Demystified.
Its chanterelles, boletes and cocorras for me today ! YAY !

Do NOT ever eat unless you are 100% sure of the identification and make sure to know the Deadly Duo: Death Cap, Destroying Angel, both in the amanita family.

Yes, great books and very spacey and fun. I invested a few dollars trying to establish a morel colony in my yard. Followed instructions, no dice. I never saw any mycelium at all in the sphagnum peat that was the alleged inoculant. Makes me suspicious that Quality control was lacking. They tell you it’s dicey and you can believe it, but morels are so good. Big fail for me with the Stamets Fungi Perfecti org, but people seem to like them. Love the Arora books.

Way back in the day when I lived for a while near the Loleta dump on Hookton Road, the Dunaway would lead us on bolete hunts in the conifers after the first fall rains. Big mushrooms with slimy caps and pores, not gills as I recall. Peel off the slimy skin and a pretty good, tasty ‘shroom. Have an expert guide and s/he eats first.

The filmmaker, Oliver Quintanilla, has had a near 20-year connection with a legitimate curandera in Oaxaca. She does not advertise; his initial meeting with her was filled with synchronistic magic, beginning two weeks before they met.
After many years and many personal visits for healing, she allowed him to film five healing ceremonies, four with individuals and one with a couple.

The film is reverent; it does not sensationalize; there are no ‘trippy’ graphics or ‘trippy’ music. Incredibly well edited and composed, weaving in several interviews with individuals in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, entheogenics and theology.

It’s a serious subject and deserving of respect; this film is the finest documentary work on native healing rituals that I’ve ever seen. It does not ‘push’ anything: it documents and exalts. Highly recommended for anyone with an active interest in these topics and for anyone with serious curiousity about them, interested in learning.

‘….One symbol is a miniature sleigh pulled by a tiny reindeer. This image is used by the shaman to “ride into the sky,” calling to mind Santa’s Christmas Eve flight. On the other hand, Siberian shamans feed psychedelic mushrooms (Amanita muscaria) to their reindeer. The animals’ metabolism removes the toxins from the mushrooms but leaves the hallucinogenic properties intact in the urine. The shamans then drink the reindeer pee to “fly high.” “